


starstruck on all of you

by nervousbakedown



Category: Tiny Meat Gang (Band)
Genre: Caregiving, Little Space, M/M, Non-Sexual Age Play, Non-Sexual Submission, Softness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 07:44:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19865995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nervousbakedown/pseuds/nervousbakedown
Summary: “You want me to carry you to nap time?” Noel joked. “Want me to tuck you in?”Cody cracked an eye open. “Doesn’t sound too bad, actually.”~or, cody is baby: the fic





	starstruck on all of you

**Author's Note:**

> first fic for this fandom, so hi! i respect the guys & their relationships irl. dont show this to anyone associated w/them. thanks!
> 
> title is from the song "dontcha" by the internet

Noel was in the middle of telling a story when another yawn from Cody cut him off. Noel turned his head and saw Cody covering his mouth, slouching in his chair. 

“Dude!” Noel protested. “Are you for real?”

Cody brought his feet up onto the chair and hugged his knees close to his chest. He lazily spoke into the microphone. “Sorry.”

“Again,” Noel shook his head. “You big baby. What am I gonna do with you?”

Cody giggled, holding the mic away from his mouth. He rested the mic down on the chair at his side and pretended to nod off - or, maybe nodded off for real. It was hard for Noel to tell at this point. 

Noel knew that this meant Cody was done for the day, so he wrapped things up. Cody managed to bring his mic up for a groggy goodbye to the listeners before he put it back down and closed his eyes. 

Curled up in the chair, Cody may or may not have been actually sleeping while Noel turned all their recording equipment off. Noel was working on saving the file on his Macbook when he looked over and saw Cody’s relaxed, sleepy face. He couldn’t be actually mad at him, at that face. He would tease him relentlessly for it, but he wasn’t mad. 

“You want me to carry you to nap time?” Noel joked. “Want me to tuck you in?”

Cody cracked an eye open. “Doesn’t sound too bad, actually.”

“Tuck you in, sing you a lullaby? Baby?” Noel kept going, not knowing when to quit. He glanced over at Cody and noticed his cheeks were flushed pink. Cody smiled with his eyes closed, the laugh lines at the corners of his eyes showing. 

“Why’re you asking me so many questions,” Cody said.

“‘Cause you’re a baby,” Noel shrugged and stood up. He stood over Cody, watched him until Cody noticed and blinked his eyes open. Cody watched Noel for a moment, still curled up on the chair, looking peacefully sleepy rather than tired. Exactly like Noel said - a big baby. 

Noel felt something unfurl in his chest at the expression on Cody’s face, the way he flushed at being called a baby. He continued on with his sentence from a moment ago. “You’re a baby. But unlike real babies, I can ask you what you need.”

“Nah, I’m just gonna start crying all the time,” Cody clapped back.

“Ha-ha,” Noel replied, sarcastically. “For real, though. Just let me know… baby.”

Cody exhaled the smallest of sighs, smiling closed mouthed up at Noel. “Okay.”

~

Noel was on his weekly Target run when the most errant thought crept into his head. On his way to grab paper towels, he got the brilliant idea to take a detour to the baby section. Wouldn’t that be funny, he thought to himself, getting Cody some baby stuff. Surely, he’d think it was funny. Noel had been calling him a baby in some way shape or form for months now, every time he was needy or nodded off during the podcast. At best it would be a funny bit for the podcast; at worst Cody would tell him to fuck off and Noel would just return the shit. 

Noel went into the aisle with the basic supplies for babies - stuff like bottles and other gadgets for feeding. Further down were pacifiers and teething toys. As soon as Noel saw the pacifiers, he knew he was getting one. 

“He’s gonna kill me,” Noel chuckled to himself. He looked for the biggest pacifiers, for babies on the older end of… babyhood. He saw a blue one with cutesy little green monsters on it. It was perfect. 

Noel threw it into his basket. He went into the next baby aisle, which had more stuff along the lines of blankets and toys. He scanned the baby blankets, looking for something that screamed Cody. 

Noel’s jaw dropped when he saw a blanket that matched the pacifier he’d picked out - blanket with blue trim, white background with the little green monster pattern on it. Noel didn’t even second guess himself and set it in his basket. 

He turned to find plush toys for really young babies, extremely soft stuffed animals. They were all cute - Noel could think stuffed animals were cute, he’s not made of stone - but choosing one would be tough. The puppy seemed too cartoonish, and the giraffe wasn’t plush enough. Noel then saw a fat blue elephant, on the bigger side for the baby stuffed animals. Cody would like that one, might even hug it just to prove to Noel that he ironically enjoyed the gift or something. 

Deciding that was enough, Noel went about his normal shopping, except now his thoughts kept drifting to Cody’s reaction to all this, to ratcheting up the whole baby joke. 

~

Noel didn’t wrap his presents for Cody with anything special. He kept them in the Target bag and found himself grinning like a fool as he carried it up to Cody’s apartment. Noel wasn’t even coming over to work, not specifically, although usually when they hung out they ended up working on tour stuff or bouncing video ideas off one another. That meant Cody wouldn’t be expecting a thing, which would make the whole gift-giving so much funnier. 

Cody had left the door unlocked for Noel, so Noel let himself in. He found Cody sitting at his dining room table on his Macbook. He was resting his head in his hand, looking not tired, but sleepy - no bags under his eyes or anything. Just sleepy. 

“Hey,” Cody said, smiling at Noel as he walked in. When Noel reached the table, Cody noticed the bag in his hand. “What’s that?”

“Oh, ya know,” Noel tried to play coy. He sat the bag on the table and took a seat next to Cody. “Just got a few things for you.”

Cody sat up straight and ran a hand through his hair. He raised his eyebrows and pulled the bag closer to him. “Okay. What’s the occasion, it’s not even…”

“What? I can’t get my best friend random presents?” Noel teased. 

“No, that’s -” Cody started to speak, looking in the bag. He cut himself off when he saw what was inside. He pulled out the pacifier first. His eyes were wide at first, but soon, he started giggling. 

“Dude,” was all Cody said. “Is this - is this ‘cause of the baby thing?”

“Uh, obviously,” Noel answered his dumb question. He pointed to the bag. “There’s more, don’t worry.”

“God,” Cody shook his head in disbelief. 

Cody lifted the stuffed elephant and the blanket out together. The blanket, comically small for him, made him laugh. He set it on the table but kept the elephant in his hands, squeezing it a few times. 

“Aw, he’s kinda cute,” he said. 

“I knew you would like him,” Noel said. 

Cody just giggled at that one. He set the elephant down on the table and took the pacifier in his hands again. He scanned over the label before opening the packaging.

“Gotta see if this fits in my mouth,” Cody said, tone dripping with innuendo. 

“Ha ha,” Noel replied. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

Cody got the pacifier out of the packaging. Before he could even think about putting it in his mouth, Noel said, “You should probably wash that first.”

Handing the pacifier over to Noel, Cody smirked. “You do it.”

“Why?”

“I’m the baby. You do all that shit.”

Noel pursed his lips, took the pacifier. He stood up. “I see what you did - I see, you’re flipping this on me. This is all my fault.”

Cody laughed, leaning back in his chair. Noel went to the kitchen sink and washed the pacifier with warm water and a tiny drop of dish soap. He dried it off with a clean dish towel. 

When he turned around, he saw Cody getting the blanket out of its packaging. He then took the tags off the stuffed elephant. Noel thought the lack of jokes about this from Cody was a little strange, but he wasn’t going to say anything. He definitely seemed happy with it. 

“You were yawning when I came in,” Noel remarked, standing across from Cody, who was still sitting. Noel had the pacifier in his hand. He watched Cody hold the stuffed elephant in both his hands on the table. 

“Yeah, I’m tired,” Cody replied. 

“Ready for your nap?” Noel asked before he could even think it through. They were already on the baby thing, pretty firmly on it at this point. There was no going back now. 

Cody gazed up at Noel, and Noel could see the realization of what was happening in that moment on his face. Cody yawned and nodded, quietly said, “Yeah.”

“Okay, let’s put you down for a nap,” Noel said. “Where do you want? Couch? Bed?”

“I like the couch,” Cody said. He stood up from the table, grabbed the stuffed elephant and baby blanket before walking around the table. He followed Noel out to the living room and laid on the couch. He used the armrest as a pillow, but Noel thought that couldn’t have been comfortable. Noel grabbed a pillow from the other end of the couch. 

“Sit up,” Noel told Cody in a soft voice that came natural to him. This whole thing of taking-the-joke-seriously-for-fun came oddly natural to the both of them. Noel would have to think about it more later, but not at this moment, not when Cody was lying there, staring at Noel with big eyes, clutching the plush elephant and baby blanket to his chest. 

Cody seemed like he’d fall asleep at any moment, blinking lazily at Noel. He watched him like he was waiting for something. 

“You cold? You want a big blanket?” Noel asked. He was standing up and going over to the basket where Cody kept throw blankets before he could even answer. Cody nodded anyway, smiled when Noel draped the blanket over him. Noel noticed Cody’s eyes drift to the pacifier still in Noel’s hand. 

Noel made sure the blanket was properly covering Cody. Cody brought his arms out from underneath, holding his elephant and baby blanket with one arm draped across his chest. Noel thought he looked so cute, so sleepy, so down to earth. This 100% wasn’t a bit they were doing. It felt like it should’ve been, but it wasn’t. It was completely and totally real, the total opposite of what Noel expected it would be. He liked this better than a joke. Whatever he and Cody were doing right now made him feel… good. 

“You need anything else?” Noel asked. 

Cody wordlessly shook his head “no.” 

“Okay,” Noel said. He looked down at the pacifier in his hand, brought it up for Cody to look at. “I guess I should finally give you this, huh?”

Cody let out the softest of giggles under his breath and nodded his head in the affirmative. 

Noel brought the pacifier to Cody’s mouth, watched him take it and close his mouth around it. It was pretty small, but still worked. Noel watched Cody for a few moments - watched him sleepily blink, watched the blue outside of the pacifier start to move, which meant he was sucking on it for real. 

Noel stood up, because it was almost too cute too look at. He didn’t say anything, just watched Cody start to fall asleep, his head listing to the side, before going back out to the kitchen. 

~

Cody slept for a little under an hour. Noel knew he was up from the sounds of blankets rustling and a big yawn. He got up from his seat at the dining room table so he could check on Cody. 

Cody had his arms outstretched above his head, his pacifier in his right hand. His stuffed elephant and baby blanket were at his side, which meant he barely moved in his sleep. 

“Hey,” Noel sat on the edge of the couch. At this point, he wasn’t sure how to go about this. Whatever this was. 

“Hmm,” Cody made a contented sound, smiling at Noel closed-mouthed. 

“You sleep well?” Noel asked. 

“Yeah,” Cody replied, bringing his arms back down. He pushed his hair out of his face. “Really well. Kind of mad I woke up.”

Neither Cody nor Noel said anything for a few moments after that. Cody sat up, catching the stuffed elephant before it could fall to the floor. He set it in the corner of the couch beside him, with the baby blanket. He tossed the normal, adult sized blanket off him, pacifier still in his hand. He stared at his feet until he eventually broke the silence. 

“So, like,” Cody started before taking a long pause. “I don’t know… what that was.”

“Uh, yeah,” Noel quickly agreed, “Me either. Sorry if I -”

“No, it was… good. I liked it. Don’t know what happened, but I liked it.”

Noel let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, good. Me too.”

They shared a knowing look. Noel, like Cody, didn’t know what the fuck just happened, but something happened between them. They didn’t have to talk about it right now. 

Things were normal for the rest of the night. Noel put Cody’s pacifier on the kitchen counter, and they hung out and shot the shit like normal. Noel eventually left - without tucking Cody in. 

When he drove home, he kept replaying the whole nap sequence in his head. 

~

Noel had a feeling it would happen again, today, when they were recording a new podcast. Cody complained about halfway through that he was hungry, and Noel, thankfully, had come prepared. He handed Cody a protein bar and found himself laughing at how delighted Cody was about it. Noel monologued while Cody ate his snack, smiling and nodding at him so Noel knew he was still listening. 

Towards the end, Noel watched Cody get sleepy. Unlike last time, it wasn’t a pleasant sleepy. He seemed to be slightly irritated or annoyed. When he couldn’t make a joke and just shrugged when Noel asked him a question, Noel knew he was done for the day. They did spend the day editing before they recorded, which was probably a bad choice. In the future, they would switch that. For now, Noel was left to deal with a tired, cranky Cody. 

“Can you take down that mic stand?” Noel asked Cody, something they unfortunately had to do every time in the shared studio space. 

Cody looked up from his phone and made a face at the mic stand. He made no movements to take it down.

Noel sighed, exasperated. He stood over Cody. “Dude.”

Cody looked up at Noel, eyes wandering and unfocused. 

“Come on,” Noel said, his tone softened. He knew Cody would respond better this way. “Let’s just do this and then we can go home.”

Cody stared at him a moment longer before putting his phone down. “Okay.”

While Cody was working on disassembling the mic stand, Noel got an idea. 

“Get this done and you can have your pacifier and elephant.”

Cody froze and looked up at Noel again, his face completely changed. His mouth hung open, and he got back to work on tidying up the studio. In less than ten minutes they were ready to go.

Cody drove them over, so Noel didn’t want to distract him when he drove them back to his place. He said nothing until they got to his apartment building. The tension of the whole babying thing was hanging in the air as they walked up to Cody’s door. 

“Have you named your elephant yet?” Noel asked. 

“No,” Cody unlocked the door. He pushed it open and Noel followed him inside. 

“You want a nap?” Noel asked, dropping his stuff off on the kitchen table with Cody. 

Cody shrugged. “I don’t know.” 

“Okay,” Noel sighed. “Where’s your pacifier and blankie?”

“Room,” Cody said, walking to his room. Noel followed.

Cody got to his room and sat on the edge of the bed. He didn’t say anything more, just pouted, kicking his feet and twiddling his thumbs. 

“Okay, where’s your stuff for real?” Noel asked. 

“Drawer.”

Noel opened the top drawer to the dresser and found Cody’s pacifier, stuffed elephant, and baby blanket. He got them out and set them on top of the dresser. He looked in the other drawers for comfy clothes for Cody, not opting to ask where he could find some sweatpants. He found them in the last drawer, not knowing or caring if they were a pair Cody liked or not. 

“Get ready for your nap,” Noel told Cody, his voice lilting up in pitch. “Put these on.”

Noel tossed the sweatpants onto Cody’s lap. Cody hesitated for a moment before he stood up, took his jeans off. He had to sit down to yank them off his ankles. He pulled on his gray tapered jogger sweatpants after that and looked at the floor, at his feet. 

“Do you need anything else? A snack? Some water?” Noel asked. 

Cody just shrugged and made a “hmph” noise. 

“I’m gonna get you some water,” Noel said. 

He went out to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. He was going off instinct again, going off this feeling that he needed to take care of Cody. When Noel got back to the bedroom, he set the glass of water on the nightstand and went to grab all the baby stuff off the dresser. 

Noel turned around and saw Cody, still pouting, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Come on,” Noel cooed. “Time for a nap.”

“Ugh,” Cody brought his legs up and laid down on his side at the foot of the bed, curled up. 

“Close,” Noel replied. He came around to the side of the bed. He sat on the edge, up where Cody’s head should be. He patted the pillow. “Come on.”

Cody let out a groan and pushed himself up, crawled up the bed. He got under the covers and got comfortable, lying on his side. Noel tucked the stuffed blue elephant into Cody’s arms and draped the baby blanket over his shoulder. 

“You need anything else?” Noel asked.

“Mn-nnn,” Cody shook his head.

“‘Kay,” Noel replied.

Noel slipped the pacifier into Cody’s mouth, holding it there a few seconds while Cody sucked on it before letting go. He sat there and watched Cody try to sleep. Cody wasn’t as relaxed and ready to fall asleep as the last time they did this, and so Noel didn’t leave right away. He had a feeling Cody might not actually take a nap if he left him now, and then he’d be even more cranky. 

Noel sighed and reached out to thread his fingers in Cody’s hair. He lightly pet Cody’s head, pushing his hair back and off his face. Cody seemed to relax the more Noel did it, making a slight humming noise every now and then. It was clear Noel would stay there, sat up against the headboard, until Cody fell asleep. 

He didn’t mind.

~

Noel ended up falling asleep, too. He must’ve slept longer than Cody, because when he woke up, he saw Cody awake beside him, lying on his back, messing around on his phone. Noel sat up and rubbed his neck, feeling stiff and in pain from ending up slumped against the headboard. 

Cody still had his pacifier in his mouth, which made Noel feel like it did last week - not only protective over Cody, but also as though it was almost too cute for him to look at. 

Noel stretched his arms and put his hand back in Cody’s hair. 

“Hey,” Noel said.

Cody looked up at him, not saying anything, acknowledging Noel with his eyes. 

“What are you up to? How long did you sleep?” Noel asked. 

Cody reached up and took his pacifier out of his mouth. “Like an hour.”

“How long was I out?”

“Hour and a half.”

“Damn,” Noel scratched Cody’s scalp gently with his fingertips. 

Cody laughed under his breath. He craned his neck up to look at Noel, and shoved his phone in his face. “Look at this.”

Noel took Cody’s phone from him, read the funny tweet on the screen. “Nice, man.”

Cody took his phone back. He turned back over onto his side and popped his pacifier back into his mouth. He was close to Noel - an inch more and he’d be on Noel’s lap. Noel let him relax for a few more minutes, watched him lay there all content, before asking him if he wanted to get dinner soon. Cody just nodded and shifted to the right so his head was pillowed on Noel’s thigh.

~

Cody slipped out of the baby thing for dinner, and so did Noel. Noel gave up his caretaking and sat on the couch with Cody like normal. Normal friend stuff. Again, it perplexed Noel as to what exactly they were doing with the whole baby thing. He had to bring it up when they were in the middle of sitting on the couch, watching Youtube on autoplay. 

“Okay, so,” Noel sighed. “You know I gotta bring up the whole… baby thing.”

Cody sighed as well. “I figured.”

“It’s not bad,” Noel stipulated, “I just don’t know what the fuck we’re doing, man.”

“You think I know?” Cody talked with his hands. “There’s not exactly a way to describe acting like a baby and being cared for by your best friend and like, enjoying it.”

“But I’m not like, putting you in a diaper or some weird shit,” Noel said.

“No, right? It’s not like, sexual or anything.”

“Yeah, it’s just. I don’t know. Soft.”

“Yeah.”

They sat in contemplative silence for a moment. 

“I don’t know, it just makes me feel good to take care of you like that,” Noel said, meeting Cody’s eyes. 

Cody blushed. “And I like... being taken care of.”

“So… it works.”

“It works.”

“Whenever you want to slip into baby mode, just know I’ll probably be able to tell,” Noel said. He stretched his arm out along the back of the couch.

“Yeah,” Cody agreed. 

“Like, it’s pretty obvious,” Noel teased. 

“Okay,” Cody laughed. “I get it.”

~

A few days later, Noel was at Target when he got a text from Cody. 

_can you come over_  
_i need you._

The text was punctuated by about five sad face emojis. Noel immediately knew what Cody meant by “need.”

_sure thing. omw soon_

Noel revised his mental shopping list. He had to pick some stuff up for Cody now. 

~

Rounding the corner into the living room, Noel greeted Cody. 

“Hey baby, how’s it going?”

Cody was curled up on the couch. “Not good.”

“Well, I guess that’s why I’m here then. I got you some things.”

Sitting up, Cody cracked a smile because of Noel’s light tone. “Okay.”

“I got you sippy cups,” Noel took the two pack of sippy cups out of the Target bag. He set them on the couch, then paused to drum up anticipation for the next item. “And…”

Noel pulled a teddy bear out of the bag, tan, much bigger than his elephant. Cody grinned and went to take it from Noel, but Noel held it back. 

“Whoa, I gotta cut the tags off,” Noel said. He picked up the cups. “And I’ll wash these. What do you want for a snack?”

“I dunno, whatever.”

“Okay.”

Noel went to the kitchen, cut the tags off the teddy bear and washed the sippy cups with handles on them. He filled one with apple juice, which Cody surprisingly already had in the fridge. The only other thing Cody had for a decent snack was pretzels. Noel emptied the whole bag into a bowl. 

When Noel went back out to the living room, Cody was sitting on the floor, in the space between the couch and coffee table. Noel wasn’t about to question him for it. He set the bowl of pretzels and the sippy cup of juice on the table. Cody looked up at Noel and reached for the teddy bear. 

“There you go,” Noel said, sitting down on the couch. “What are you gonna name him?”

“I dunno,” Cody replied, softly. 

“You still haven’t told me the name of your elephant yet.”

“I named him Peter,” Cody reached into the bowl of pretzels and took two. 

“Peter? Okay that’s - we can work on the names.”

Cody turned around and gestured to the teddy bear that was clutched in the crook of his arm. “She’s gonna be Perry.”

“Peter and Perry, okay. You know that actually sounds good, I take it back.”

Cody giggled and turned his attention back to the tv. It was on some home improvement show when Noel came in. He didn’t know if Cody wanted to watch it or if he should turn it. 

“You wanna watch this?” Noel asked. 

Cody finished taking a drink from his sippy cup. He turned around to face Noel and shook his head “no.”

“I know, let’s do some of those puppy or kitten videos on Youtube,” Noel said. 

Cody nodded “yes” for that.

“Sounds relaxing, right?” Noel mused to himself and Cody, not aiming for a reply. He loaded up Youtube from the smart tv and searched for a video of foster kittens that seemed good. 

Soon, he and Cody were watching kittens play in an enclosed area. Noel turned the volume down, because he couldn’t stand the overly bouncy music that people put to these kinds of videos. Cody didn’t seem to mind. On the tv, the tiny fuzzy kittens toddled around, fell over each other, and chased feathers. Cody leaned back against the couch about halfway through, flush against Noel’s leg. He rested his head on Noel’s thigh. Noel was about to ask if he wanted to come up onto the couch, but he seemed content. He’d sat on the floor himself; he probably wanted to be there for now. 

They watched a few more kitten videos before switching to puppies. Cody finished his juice and climbed up onto the couch, lying down with his head in Noel’s lap, still cuddling with his teddy bear. Noel’s hand automatically went to Cody’s hair, fingers combing through it. Eventually, he got bored, and ran the back of his hand over Cody’s cheek and jawline instead. 

~

They miraculously didn’t fall asleep. Eventually, Cody sat up and pillowed his head on Noel’s shoulder. Noel wrapped his arm around him. They switched from kitten and puppy videos to a funny movie. It was getting late, and Noel wondered how long he would stay. He wasn’t in a hurry to leave. He’d be around as long as Cody needed him. 

“Hey,” Noel rubbed Cody’s shoulder, “You hungry?”

“Yeah,” Cody replied, sitting up to look at Noel. 

“Me too. I’ll go order us some food.”

Noel learned quickly that giving Cody too many choices wasn’t good when he was being little, so he didn’t ask what he wanted. The whole point was to not have to think, and he understood that. Noel decided to order some Thai food. 

When he was on the phone in the kitchen (with the restaurant directly, he was done with Postmates fucking up his orders), Noel felt a tug on his t-shirt. Sure enough, it was Cody, wanting his attention. He covered the end of his phone and brought it away from his mouth.

“What is it, babe?”

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

Noel used his best encouraging voice. “You can go. You can do it.”

Cody took that as an answer and walked off. Noel soon got off the phone and went back out to the living room. He sat on the couch and waited for Cody to come back. 

A few minutes later he came out with his pacifier in his mouth and phone in his hand. He’d not had his phone all evening since Noel got there, choosing to take a break from it.

Cody plopped down onto the couch beside Noel, his blonde-tipped hair falling into his eyes. Noel reached out to push it back. He met Cody’s gaze, his big hazel eyes staring at him with attention and fondness that Noel quite frankly didn’t think he deserved. 

Noel held Cody’s face in both hands before he leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead.

“You’re my favorite, you know that?” Noel said softly.

Cody just smiled with his pacifier in his mouth, smiled with his eyes.

Yeah, Noel had a feeling he knew.


End file.
